There is such a drama being created around the removal of some American books from British syllabi you’d think the books are being outlawed. Have people heard of the outlandish concept of reading books that are not on any syllabus?
In Russian: a brilliant literary analysis of some famous Soviet-Ukrainian classics, including one of my favorite childhood books.
A cute article on the kitchen politics in the USSR.
A joke of the week about the Financial Times’s funny attack on Pickety’s best-seller: “Some lefties may think that of course this is what the FT would do. But in fact the newspaper is anything but a doctrinaire mouthpiece for the right. That an institution this august is going to the mat on this line suggests that the FT‘s editors have a lot of confidence in the conclusions they published over the weekend.“
A student wants credit for not plagiarizing.
“And frankly, I don’t know why Mrs. Robinson is sleeping with him, either. It’s established that he’s a virgin, and his personality is nasty, and he’s obviously got terrible hygiene. Not to mention the whole problem of him being her partner’s son.” The answer is simple: the libido of 20-year-old men is at its peak. That’s the only reason middle-aged women sometimes agree to overlook their stinky feet and nasty personalities. But I agree with this blogger that the book is crap.
A very insightful article in why trigger warnings don’t help preventing traumatic flashbacks.
In Russian: an interview with a young woman who was imprisoned by terrorists in Donbass.
It’s hard to believe that anybody can be this stupid: “What, exactly, is being criticized when we describe someone as infantile? Our primary cultural differentiation between children and adults is sexuality, which means that it’s going to be difficult to disentangle a criticism of “infantilization” from a claim that the “infantile” are at fault for failing to properly assume adult sexual roles.” I hate infantile people and this is one of my favorite insults to those who annoy me. But sex is the last thing on my mind when I talk about how disgusting immaturity is in adults. Infantile people, for me, are those who refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Their sexual roles are entirely immaterial.
I used to like this blogger but then he started prattling about things he doesn’t understand and turned into an idiot: “I personally like Charles. . . However, his recent statement comparing Putin to Hitler over their annexation of Crimea in the Ukraine has got me shaking my head. Does he really think we’re that stupid or is he just pulling a Vic Toews and repeating something he was told without thinking about it or actually looking at the voter count last election. Over 70% of the voters in Crimea voted for a pro Russian president in 2010. Over 70%. How much over 70% we don’t know but we do know it was over 70%. Enough to help a pro Russian president get elected that election over all.” What en election 4 years ago has to do with an invasion of Ukraine by Russians in 2014 is a mystery that only this blogger’s confused brain can unravel. Why do people choose to chirp idiotically and offensively on subjects they know nothing about?
Very interesting photos from Europe.
Kalugin talks about Snowden. Fascinating.
Universities start meaningless, gimmicky programs to attract the brainless while good, important programs (such as mine) are threatened with elimination.
“No, no, misogyny isn’t specific to Islam. Of course not. But I’ve lived in an Islamic country. I’ve seen it for myself. And trust me, other than if you are in some cult here, the worst of what Christians do to women is usually better than the best treatment a woman gets in an Islamic country.” We never discuss anything controversial on this blog, so I suggest we take a shot at this interesting post.
In Russian: the true Russian intelligentsia (or what remains of it) celebrates the freedom of Ukraine.
“First, a clarification: nobody, to my knowledge, has asked that students be exempted from reading material that they find emotionally difficult.” My students do it all the time. And so do the students of most of my colleagues. And we always oblige because we can’t afford to get the bad reviews we will if something like divorce, adultery, or lack of a happy ending offends their sensibilities. I’m sanitizing my syllabi all the time because of how damn sensitive everybody is.
Clarissa's Blog 
“I’m sanitizing my syllabi all the time because of how damn sensitive everybody is.”
Do you find that you use the term, “sensitive” differently from how everyone else does? I’ve always felt that not only my use of this term, but my preferences for mapping it are rather different from how people would do so if actually brought within advanced Western culture. I realize there are pejorative and more applausive connotations relating to this term, generally.
I also have a somewhat different mapping of the word, “emotional”, since I would not always use it pejoratively, although the tendency seems to be to relegate it to a negative meaning.
I think, generally, what I have noticed about the Western psyche is a certain fragility, concerning which Elliot Roger and others like him express only a more extreme quality, compared to others. People become alarmed very quickly by something that is outside of their range of understanding or experience. They seem to fear moral contamination.
I find it rather strange, because even many university profs are somewhat infected by this fear of the unknown. You have to be able to persist with a strange, text, maybe over a very long duration, to find what it in it and what it is trying to say. If you throw it away from you, for fear of moral contamination, you will at best get a limited interpretation. You will slot the book into a predesignated paradigm rather than allowing it to speak for itself, which is much harder.
For instance, take the two extracts I have posted here about the eruption of madness.
Now, I think the normal Western reader would be “sensitive” as it were to Elliot’s pain, because they can understand what he is saying and also feel his brittleness. The may not like him, even, but he has made clear the nature and origins of his pains as being, from his point of view, very clearly social in origin. Physical size is an issue of social normativity and social comparison.
Marechera’s writing, however, would not speak to the average sensitive reader, as it takes a lot of processing. Even for me at times, his writing can seem to ooze moral contamination. One has to persist with it and get beyond one’s initial reaction against the intensity of the writings. The brittle mentality of one who feels pain as being fundamentally social in origin will not tolerate for long words that seem to ooze like blood from the page.
When one recoils against taking in a whole and thorough sense of the text, is it a case of the reader having too much sensitivity or not enough? Marechera’s may be experienced as “emotional” writing, whereas Elliot’s writing is brittle and calm.
Marechera’s writing, however, is artistic and he was not a deadly psychopath.
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“Do you find that you use the term, “sensitive” differently from how everyone else does?”
– Your question made me think of this old joke that I find increasingly relevant to my life.
A man comes to his wife and says, “Our son-in-law is a total whore!”
“That’s his problem,” the wife says.
“But he’s cheating on our daughter!”
“That’s her problem.”
“But he’s cheating with you!!”
“That’s my problem.”
“But you are my wife!!!”
“That’s your problem.”
I’m so sick and tired of people bringing their eeeemotions to the workplace, to the classroom and expecting everybody to clean up their psychological dirt after them. Why can’t everybody treat work as work, a place where you come, do your thing, get paid, and go away together with your eeeeemotions. I feel very exhausted from all the eeeemotional and seeeeeensitive people who can’t get their shit together and stop contaminating public spaces with their feeeeelings.
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“Physical size is an issue of social normativity and social comparison.”
– No, it’s an issue of personal psychopathology. People choose to drive themselves up a wall because they are too short, too tall, too thin, too thick. Sadly, nobody worries just as much about being too stupid. This is not aimed at you, of course. I’m in a lousy mood all day today.
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Well, that is why I didn’t go into teaching, because Westerners seem so brittle to me and I was terrified of stepping on their emotions. They made me feel traumatized that I would make a mis-step.
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“- No, it’s an issue of personal psychopathology. People choose to drive themselves up a wall because they are too short, too tall, too thin, too thick. Sadly, nobody worries just as much about being too stupid. This is not aimed at you, of course. I’m in a lousy mood all day today.”
Of course it is also an issue of personal psychopathology, but its reference points SEEM to be social, that is comparative. If I were worried about being stupid that might be more of an intrapersonal concern. In any case, there is some element of the cultural, when it comes to mapping.
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With regard to the issue of moral contamination, it seems that one has to be able to approach ideas without fear of being contaminated by the ideas. If one has not trained one’s emotions to be pretty robust, one may find oneself feeling rather weak, in relation to the text.
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Anyway, final thought. Emotion and sensitivity seem to be American issues. Women are supposed to embody those qualities and men not have anything to do with them at all.
But I see that, for instance, if one’s character is heavily anchored in stoicism, like Japanese people, one can permit oneself a higher level of surface emotions without that being evidence of mental instability. But if one has no anchor—watch out for seemingly calm surfaces!
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Have you seen the results of vote for the European Parliament? I am fucking angry about this! A metric ton of people are voting for euro skeptics, climate skeptics, homophobes, racists and facists. UKIP in the UK or Front Nationale in France, and half of Europe was apparently too fucking stupid to make a fucking cross on a fucking piece of paper. What happened to my left-as-fuck Europe and why has everyone apparently gone pants-on-head-idiotic?!
In other news, I took a liking to photography a while ago and feel like sharing. Enjoy:
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Great photos! I like the birds the most. But it’s time for me to be getting into cars, too. 🙂
Europe is learning the lesson many know already: the only people who always vote are the fanatics. So if reasonable, enlightened people have better things to do than vote or run for office, the crazies will always show up.
And of course, it bears to be repeated that the EU messed up immigration so badly that there will be a price to pay for a long time to come.
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Nice start, Tim. Have fun with your photography – it is a great way to look at your surroundings and human, mammalian, avian, insect, reptilian neighbors more closely.
Some people do vote out of civic duty or habit, not to exhibit their looniness.
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Uri’s interesting last column with unknown (to me), curious facts about Theodor Herzl:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1401455052
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“But the Russian Zionists, the bulwark of the movement, rebelled. Palestine or nothing.”
– Gosh, it’s always the Russians, you know.
“For Herzl, that was a sober, rational idea. No God involved, no Holy Scriptures, no romantic nonsense. Palestine did not enter his mind. Nor had he any interest in the religious fantasies of Christian Zionists in Britain and the US, like Alfred Balfour.”
– I’m liking this guy!
“What Herzl saw with his mind’s eye was a huge new country more or less empty, just waiting to be turned into a Jewish state. He thought that the Argentine government would give it up for money.”
– Instead, Argentina became a haven for post-war Nazis escaping from justice. These Nazis later taught the Junta how to torture political prisoners.
“The rational approach of Herzl was soon swamped by the irrational character of his movement – a mixture of religious fantasies and East European romanticism. The plan to resettle the Jews in a safe environment turned into a Messianic movement. This has happened to the Jews before, and always ended in disaster.”
– I really like this blogger. Thank you for this link!!!
“From there the pope flew to Ben-Gurion airport, as if he had just arrived from Rome. He marched on the red carpet between Peres and Netanyahu (since neither of the two would cede the honor to the other).
I don’t know what the pope found to talk about with this shallow duo, but I would surely have enjoyed listening in to a conversation between the two intelligent Argentinians, Francis and Herzl.”
– What a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant journalist!
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\\ What a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant journalist!
You can always follow his weekly column. 🙂
Remember, I linked to his previous column (letter exchange between him and Palestinian refugee and activist), and answered your question about support for Uri’s ideas?
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“Remember, I linked to his previous column (letter exchange between him and Palestinian refugee and activist), and answered your question about support for Uri’s ideas?”
– I’m old but I’m not that old. Of course, I remember. 🙂
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Btw, imagine alternate history, in which Jews try to create a state in Argentina. Would it have succeeded? If yes, why wouldn’t it have been simply Europian version of Middle-East conflict?
Also, I have read a column in a Right-wing free Israeli paper with a plan, which made me wonder about another kind of alternate history: if it’s fulfilled, what would be the results?
The plan is of announcing that 2 state solution is dead because of Palestinians, and applying sovereignty over all of Yehuda and Shomron. Gradually grant Palestinians of West Bank citizenship, and later, based on that experience, try to do the same with Gaza. He says numbers of Palestinians in population surveys of Abu Mazen are artificially inflated and Jews would still be a majority.
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// – I’m old but I’m not that old. Of course, I remember. 🙂
I thought it would generate a discussion, but nobody reacted. 😦
If even on this blog pro-Palestinian people keep blaming me, while refusing to enter any kind of dialogue with a Center-Left Israeli, what are hopes for dialogue in other places?
I thought our politicians were doing propaganda, while calling anti-Israeli Europians antisemiths, but now I wonder whether they are often more right than I initially thought.
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The sad truth of the matter is that the absolute majority of people only care about Israel-Palestine for as long as they get a chance to say “Israel bad – Palestine good” or “Israel good – Palestine bad.” Beyond that, very few people care. I’ve tried to start a dialogue about this innumerable times. For a while, people try to suss out whether I am “Israel bad – Palestine good” or vice versa. When it becomes clear that I can’t be classified this way, their eyes go dead and they start to fidget and try to change the topic.
It’s not even anti-semitism, or just anti-semitism. It’s just that many people believe the issue (and most other issues) is not worth the effort of a more nuanced approach. You suggested I start a thread about this, and I could. But I know it will remain empty.
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If you think anything about those alternate history ideas or the information I gave, I would love to hear. 🙂
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I am unsure whether her analyses are good, but I was interested in that she is against both Right and Left proposals for steps:
A rational Palestinian policy needs demographic facts; but Israel hasn’t done the requisite research.
In a Bloomberg interview earlier this month, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu observed that due to the stalled peace process, “the idea of taking unilateral steps is gaining ground, from the center-left to the center-right.” Prof. Efraim Inbar has a counter-proposal, succinctly encapsulated in the title of his May 15 column in Israel Hayom: “Let’s do almost nothing.”
I’m a longstanding fan of that approach. As I’ve argued in previous Jerusalem Post columns, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is analogous to the Cold War: It can’t currently be solved; it can only be managed until such time as circumstances change. And while unilateral moves could theoretically contribute to managing the conflict, every actual proposal I’ve seen, from both left and right, would entail major security and/or diplomatic risks in exchange for zero benefits (for details, see Jerusalem Post columnist Martin Sherman’s dissections of both left-wing plans – here, here and here – and right-wing ones).
http://www.jpost.com/Experts/Confronting-the-demographic-demon-354748
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Last comment – a summery of one of Right Wing positions.
I wanted to ask you whether you think her plan would play out as she predicts or not: Except a moral problem, does it have a practical misculculation too?
Political truth not political correctness
To arrive at a viable alternative to the two-state paradigm, Israel must abandon political correctness and embrace political truth. Its leaders must enlist the intellectual depth and ideological courage to drop the pretense that the Palestinians could, at some future time, become either potential peace partners, or potentially loyal Israeli residents – and relate to them as they really are: Implacable enemies.
Neither Israel, nor its economy minister, has any moral or democratic obligation to support or promote the enemy’s economy.
To the contrary, it could be argued, on entirely ethically grounds, that they has a duty to let it collapse, and to contend with accusations of precipitating a “humanitarian crisis” by providing individual Palestinians generous relocation grants to extricate themselves from the consequences of such collapse, inflicted on them by the incompetence of cruel, corrupt cliques who have led them astray for decades.
This to me seems the only truly viable and durable Zionist alternative to the two-state disaster.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-Fray-Earth-to-Bennett-Earth-to-Bennett-353126
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// contend with accusations of precipitating a “humanitarian crisis” by providing individual Palestinians generous relocation grants to extricate themselves
Just to clarify, I understand the plan is not moral, but I started wondering whether it won’t end exactly like described here.
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PETA’s new low:
Their latest effort to try to bully people into veganism:: “Has your child got autism? Learn about the link between autism and dairy products at PETA.org”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/29/hey-animal-lovers-another-reminder-that-peta-is-a-terrible-no-good-organization/
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Meanwhile in Egypt:
President mandates standing for national anthem and respecting flag
[…]
The law stipulates a maximum punishment of one year in prison and LE30,000 for “desecrating the flag.”
It also mandates that the flag be raised in all educational institutions that fall under the jurisdiction of the state and that the national anthem is performed every morning, during which those present have to stand.
http://www.madamasr.com/content/president-mandates-standing-national-anthem-and-respecting-flag
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People are so funny with their worship of pieces of painted fabric.
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Is this the end of the internet as we know it? Thousands rush to apply for their ‘right to be forgotten’ by having details of their past erased from Google
Search engine now allows people to have links about them taken down
However, Google says it will balance rights of individuals with public interest
Most requests received relate to paedophilia, fraud, arrests and convictions
The ruling could fundamentally change the nature of the internet in Europe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2644578/Thousands-paedophiles-apply-Google-right-forgotten.html
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This is a great decision. Daily Mail is a tabloid and tries to use the old tactic of invoking the bugbear of pedophilia to assault this great new development. Daily Mail is in the business of spreading lies about people, so of course it doesn’t want these lies to be purged.
But the development itself will go a long way towards making Internet more civilized.
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Good news for my country:
Israel okays plan to teach theory of evolution at middle schools. Until now, evolution was taught in high school, and only as an optional part of the biology curriculum. Consequently, most students graduated without ever having been exposed to the theory.
Ministry officials said they weren’t yet sure whether evolution would be taught in state religious schools as well, noting that, previously, these schools have found ways to avoid teaching subjects that could be religiously controversial. A year ago, for instance, pressure from the religious community persuaded the ministry to remove a chapter on human reproduction from textbooks used in state religious schools.
Ben-Zvi noted that her committee included some religious members. But in any case, she said, “This is the dominant theory in the field in the Western world. […] I don’t think there’s any reason for (religion and science) to be in competition or to undermine each other. I don’t think the intent is to hurt people who believe that the world was created by divine power. We have grounds – and even an obligation – to give our students this curriculum, because it’s what is accepted today to explain the sources of life’s diversity. Not to say that men came from apes, but to say that men and apes come from a similar background. We decided not to be afraid of doing what’s right.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.596605
However, in Hebrew newspaper it was written that only application to plants and animals will be taught, without touching on the subject of apes and men.
Clarissa, you said you were against studying it in your high school. Do you think the theory is true now, while before you thought evolution had no connection to us (not even being created by God via evolution)?
– el
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I posted another comment together with the above one about teaching evolution, in case it got lost I will post a quote from an article on the same topic:
A suspected French jihadist who spent time in Syria has been arrested over the shooting deaths of three people at a Belgian Jewish museum, prosecutors said Sunday, crystalizing fears that European radicals will parlay their experiences in Syria into terrorism back home.
[…]
France has western Europe’s largest Muslim population, and while it is overwhelmingly moderate, authorities say several hundred French people have left to join Islamic radicals fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army.
The French government recently introduced measures to try to stop disaffected youth from leaving in the first place, and better track those who go to Syria and come back.
[…]
The attack and the arrest revived memories of Mohamed Merah, a Frenchman who trained with extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then attacked a Jewish school and French paratroopers in southern France in 2012.
He killed seven people, including three children in an attack he captured on camera, before dying in a shootout with police. Those killings rocked France, prompting tougher anti-terrorism measures aimed at better tracking French citizens who pursue extremism abroad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/france-suspect-in-brussels-jewish-museum-arrested/2014/06/01/dcd27cde-e967-11e3-8fd3-b2c206ada0e9_story.html
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Interesting article about UK’s reaction :
Days after France announced that it would start a hotline for worried parents to tip off authorities about their kids’ jihadist inclinations, the UK government followed suit — with its own plan to keep a growing number of young British citizens from running off to Syria to join rebel groups there.
https://news.vice.com/article/the-uk-asks-moms-to-stop-their-kids-from-running-off-to-syria
May be, people will be more ready to discuss in depth “Syria, young Muslims in Europe and European governments” than “Israel and Palestinians.” For instance, what should governments do?
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I don’t understand the logic of trying to prevent adults from going where they want to go by enlisting their mommies. I don’t get the linked article at all.
What is more interesting is that now not only Chechens but mercenaries from Jordan and Saudi Arabia are fighting against Ukraine in Donbass.
My relatives had to leave Donetsk because of the fighting.
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If you wish, you could find my lost comment from June 2 since it had a link to an interesting article about France, which I can’t find now.
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I don’t know where it went, I don’t see it anywhere. Sorry!
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Why interfaith marriage is on the rise in Israel – and why it’s a problem
As many as one in 10 Israeli marriages are interfaith, with the non-Jewish partner often subjected to second-class treatment by the state.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/shavuot/.premium-1.596678
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People value themselves more than a bunch of ancient prejudices, there’s no mystery in that. It’s the XXIst century, advanced capitalist societies are all about enjoyment and pleasure and not about pleasing some authority by courting misery.
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// People value themselves more than a bunch of ancient prejudices,
Not true for most in Israeli Jews.
Some 81 percent of Jews in Israel aged 18 to 22 oppose intermarriage, according to a comprehensive study conducted by the Shiluv Institute. The survey, which included a representative sampling of 500 people, reveals that opposition to intermarriage is strong, particularly among the young, who are most vulnerable to entering into relationships with non-Jews.
http://www.yadlachimusa.org.il/?CategoryID=193&ArticleID=805
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“Some 81 percent of Jews in Israel aged 18 to 22 oppose intermarriage, according to a comprehensive study conducted by the Shiluv Institute.”
– They will soon grow up. 🙂
“who are most vulnerable to entering into relationships with non-Jews.”
– This sounds extremely offensive. “Vulnerable”? If the survey was held by the same people who are interpreting the results, it’s obvious what the results are worth. Nothing is easier than framing questions in a way that will result in the answers the creators of the survey need.
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Крепостное право это патриотизм закрепленный на бумаге.
Человек был связан со своей землей-матушкой не только
чувством долга, но и документально. Крепостное право –
это мудрость народа
/Никита Михалков /
Похоже Никитушка еб…ся окончательно
/Игорь Иртенев/
Кому-то крепостное право…
Вполне возможно, не по нраву,
Но я-то знаю свой народ.
И нам гражданские свободы
Сулят лишь смуты и невзгоды,
От них шатанье и разброд.
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/151667.html
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When Sexism Kills: Deadly Hurricane Edition
The paper claimed that a masculine-named storm would kill about 15 people, but a hurricane of the same strength with a female name would kill about 42.
One reason for the discrepancy, according to the authors: A storm with a feminine name is seen as less threatening than one with a more masculine name.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2014/06/when-sexism-kills-deadly-hurricane-edition.html
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http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/01/15/critics-of-israel-silent-as-arabs-starve-palestinians/
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This is so horrible. The fate of Palestinians is tragic. There are still so many places in the world that stand empty, depopulated, and nobody can find any space for Palestinian refugees.
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But I have to say, it is very wrong of these journalists to use the tragedy of the Palestinians as an argument in the “what if this were Israel” game. It’s one thing not to be able to do anythging for the refugees, but it’s quite a different thing to use them as an argument in a discussion.
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Regarding the treatment of Palestinians, I learned something new from the comments:
Another example of the world’s hypocrisy can be found in Lebanon. Here, “Palestinians” have lived in “refugee camps” since 1948 because they are not allowed to live anywhere else. They are also not allowed to work in certain professions – e.g. teaching, law, medicine, policing.
This is EXACTLY what apartheid is, and yet it’s Israel, which grants full democratic rights to its Arab citizens – just like all its citizens, of all religions – the country that stands accused of this crime.
AND
Same as it always was. Back in the ’70s when PLO attempt to take over Jordan, Jordanian Army showed the world how Arabs takes on insurrection. You fly a PLO flag over a town it gets shelled to the ground. Did anyone complain? Hell no.
Agree with this:
It’s not really a case of “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. It is far more that those who oppose Israeli policy either were never motivated by concern for the Palestinians or that their concern for the Palestinians has been transformed into and overtaken by a hatred of Israel – and more precisely, of the Jews. It is not that such people have a lower view of Arabs, but rather that complaining of Arab treatment of their fellow Arabs would confuse people and interfere with their use of the Palestinians to attack Jews.
Another article offers 5 criteria to distinguish between an honest critic of Israel and antisemith in disguise:
The Impossible Standard
http://blogs.jpost.com/content/impossible-standard
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[March 19, 2014 ] During a speech at Tel Aviv University, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon came out in support of potential unilateral military action against Iran. Reversing his previous opposition to the prospect, he said, “On this matter, we have to behave as though we have nobody to look out for us but ourselves.” The Israeli government is now putting money behind the principle: The IDF has been allocated $2.89 billion for the preparation of a unilateral attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/03/19/israel-prepares-to-bomb-iran-despite-nuclear-talks/
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Oh Jesus. I believe the US should suspend all (or at least threaten to suspend) all financial aid. Or direct the aid to whoever is most peaceful in the region.
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Regarding Iran, I see a key disagreement in you viewing the country’s leaders as rational players (whose worldview is “compatible with a system of nuclear deterrence, which assumes that all parties place a premium on their own survival”) vs. most Israelis on the street (and at least some of our leaders, imo) see Iran as is described in the article:
the Islamic Republic of Iran is the first government since Hitler’s in which anti-Semitism constitutes a central element of its identity. An Iran with nuclear weapons would thus be the first government since Hitler’s to be both willing and able to threaten a second Holocaust.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/06/02/taking-irans-anti-semitism-seriously/
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Interesting article:
The Triangle Connecting the U.S., Israel, and American Jewry May Be Coming Apart
For decades, shared interests kept all three players in a mutually beneficial relationship, but its end might not be such a bad thing
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/151158/broken-triangle?all=1
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Another article I liked:
A Difficult Identity: Arab Citizens of Israel
http://www.the-american-interest.com/berger/2012/07/11/a-difficult-identity-arab-citizens-of-israel/
Curious:
Hamas Chief to Israel: Go Ahead, Bomb Iran
[…] the news from Hamas is bad for Tehran. Haniyeh’s pronouncement removes–or at least calls into question–one negative impact of a potential Israeli strike and diminishes Iran’s confidence in its ability to respond.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2012/05/11/hamas-chief-to-israel-go-ahead-bomb-iran/
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Last link, this article describes well how Jews in Israel view Jews abroad. May be you know it, but in case there is something new:
Ad Flap Reveals Jewish Split On Meaning of Israel
http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2011/12/03/ad-flap-reveals-jewish-split-on-meaning-of-israel/
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http://www.the-american-interest.com/blog/2014/06/06/calling-hungarys-jobbik-party-far-right-ruled-illegal/
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Hungary was one of those countries that never dealt with its own Nazism in the aftermath of WWII.
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Самолёты из говна и палок как идеологический стержень государства
Карго-культ — название семейства культов, возникших на островах Меланезии при контакте с европейцами. Аборигены видели, что белым людям в аэропортах из самолётов выгружали еду, сочли самолёты божествами и начали собирать свои из подручных материалов.
Обратный карго-культ — вера в то, что у белых людей самолёты тоже из говна и палок, но они лучше притворяются/молятся.
Эти два явления имеют свои глубокие корни в психологии людей, поэтому отмахиваться от них неправильно — им подвержены все, включая меня и вас. Но в России прямой и обратный карго-культы стали прямо-таки государственной идеологией.
http://si14.livejournal.com/57470.html
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